Re-evaluation of Slapstick

Normally I would say I do not enjoy slapstick. When we watched the golfing clip on you tube, I honestly did not laugh once. I also even found it incredibly hard to keep watching the Buster Keaton DVD I got through Netflix. When I watch America's Funniest Home videos, the clips of people falling, getting hit with something, etc, just make me cringe. So I looked into it some and thought about it. I first did a little researching on the "Three Stooges," since, at least in my opinion, I look to them as the quintessential slap-stick humorists. It was not shocking to me to discover how popular they really are, I've always heard about them. If you look at the Three Stooges in popular culture, , (I know it's Wikipedia, but I just can't help myself), you can see the extent the Three Stooges reached still in today's culture. What got me thinking was looking at some of my favorite movies, especially "Tommy Boy." There is definitely some slapstick involved, yet I absolutely love every second of that movie plus several others that center around physical humor. I think a lot of it has to do with my involvement with the characters. I could not tell you the difference between Larry, Moe, and Curly (it actually took me a second to be able to name them). Yet I could tell you the whole story line of "Tommy Boy," or "Old School." It is when I learn and care about the characters that I care to laugh at their physical humor. If, in person, I saw someone fall down a flight of stairs, that I knew, I would die laughing (as long as they are okay!), yet if I watched a You Tube clip of some random person falling down the stairs, I would be more less apt to laugh. The people that find the Three Stooges hilarious seem to be familiar with the characters. I feel like I am the only one of my friends that watches South Park and I find it to be so funny, but when my friends come in my room and catch various clips that I am cracking up about, they don't even budge laughing. Another friend of mine loves "The Office," and I did not think it was funny at all when she had it on, but the more I started watching it and learning more about the characters, I started finding it more and more funny and now I'm addicted. So, I guess it is wrong of me to say I don't like slapstick, because the movies and television shows I watch and find funny prove otherwise. I think it definitely has something to do with the characters and being involved in their stories and their personalities that make slapstick funny to me.